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Princeton. French Reading Proficiency Exam for Economics, 1949

Gaëtan Pirou (1886-1946)

 

The following Ph.D. examination for French reading proficiency (Princeton, 1949) was found in Martin Shubik‘s papers at the Duke University Economists’ Papers Archives.   Thanks to the BnF Gallica website, I was able to identify the source of the quote: Traité d’économie politique. 1er volume. Introduction à l’étude de l’économie politique (2e édition revue et mise au courant), pp. 86-88. The text is taken from the definition of political economy offered by  Gaëtan Pirou (1886-1946), author of the Traiteé cited. I have restored the use of italics from the original text.

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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics and Social Institutions

French Examination
December 8, 1949

Parmi les besoins qu’éprouvent les hommes, il en est dont l’apaisement est aisé parce que la nature offre les moyens d’y pourvoir dans des conditions d’abondance et de gratuité telles que les individus, au moment où le besoin se fait sentir sont assurés de trouver, sans peine ni perte de temps, les éléments d’une suffisante satisfaction. Prenons l’exemple du besoin d’air. Il n’en est sans doute pas de plus impérieux que celui-là, puisque, si l’homme cessait de pouvoir respirer seulement pendant quelques instants, il mourrait. Pourtant, dans la vie courante et en circonstances normales, nous n’avons pas à nous préoccuper de ce besoin; sa satisfaction ne nous demande aucun effort et n’implique de notre part aucune combinaison préalable, parce que l’ambiance dans laquelle nous vivons contient, et met à notre disposition, une quantité d’air très supérieure à ce qui nous est nécessaire.

Pour un grand nombre de nos besoins, il en est autrement. La nature ne nous offre pas spontanément et gratuitement les moyens d’y satisfaire. Il est donc nécessaire que les hommes suppléent à cette pauvreté naturelle en appliquant, sur les éléments du milieu dont ils disposent, une série d’efforts, et opèrent certaines transformations en vue de modifier le milieu et d’en extraire des objets susceptibles d’apaiser leurs besoins, de combler leurs désirs. Ces efforts seront de nature et d’importance très variables selon les cas; ils consisteront tantôt en un déplacement de l’homme qui ira à la chasse ou à la pêche pour se procurer le gibier ou le poisson qu’il convoite, tantôt en une préparation des choses, que la nature renferme mais qui nécessitent, pour être aptes à l’apaisement de nos besoins certain aménagements: cuisson du poisson ou du gibier, dépouillement de l’animal, etc.; tantôt enfin il y aura nécessité d’une véritable fabrication, où l’action humaine sera si profonde que l’on ne reconnaitra plus, dans l’objet finalement obtenu, les matières qui auront servi de point de départ à l’opération. De toute façon, à quelque degré, l’homme aura dû consacrer du temps et fournir du travail pour assurer la satisfaction de ses désirs. Celle-ci aura donc un coût; elle sera onéreuse.

Dans les sociétés primitives chaque individu s’applique, par son effort personnel — et généralement à l’aide d’une technique rudimentaire — à tirer du milieu les moyens de sa propre satisfaction. Si la nature ne lui offre pas un abri suffisant contre les intempéries, il abattra des branches d’arbres, les émondera, les taillera, hypothèse, se construira une hutte. En cette hypothèse un seul et même individu accomplit toute la série des actes qui vont de l’effort à la satisfaction; il parcourt tout le cycle, de la production à laconsommation.

Dans la vie sociale moderne, il n’en est plus ainsi.

Généralement, ce n’est pas le même homme qui produit et qui consomme tel ou tel objet déterminé. Celui qui mange une banane n’a pas d’ordinaire consacré de temps et de travail à faire pousser le bananier. Le vêtement a été fabriqué par d’autres que celui qui le porte. Chaque individu, en effet, se spécialise sous des conditions et des influences que nous aurons plus tard à rechercher, cans la production d’une catégorie particulière d’objets. Un boulanger consacre la plus grande partie de sa journée ou de sa nuit à faire cuire des pains. Un opticien pendant des années s’adonne à la fabrication de lunettes. Le boulanger ne consommera lui-même qu’une très minime fraction des pains qui sortiront de son four. L’opticien, s’il a une vue normale, ne se servira aucunement des verres qu’il taille.  Ainsi, la plupart des individus coopèrent à des productions qui ne sont pas destinées, au moins pour la plus grande part, à l’apaisement de leurs désirs personnels. Ces articles, qu’ils produisent et qu’ils ne consomment pas, ils les vendent, c’est- à-dire qu’ils les échangent contre de la monnaie. Puis, grâce à cette monnaie, ils achètent à d’autres producteurs ou à des commerçants les marchandises diverses qui permettront l’apaisement de leurs désirs les plus variés.

A mon sens, l’économie politique a pour objet l’étude de ces faits d’échange par lesquels un individu abandonne à un autre ce qu’il détient pour obtenir en contre-partie ce qu’il désire — faits grace auxquels est établi le pont entre la production des richesses et la satisfaction des besoins.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Martin Shubik Papers, Box 2. Folder “Exams, University of Toronto and Princeton 1947-50”.

Image Source: Faculté de Droit de Paris. Webpage: LXX (ou 70). Professeurs de Droit de Paris en caricatures (3/3).

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Labor Princeton Sociology

Princeton. Life and writings of economic sociologist Walter A. Wyckoff, 1895-1908

 

At the time of his premature death at age 43, the assistant professor of political economy at Princeton University, Walter A. Wyckoff, had been a member of the American Economic Association for a dozen years. His passing in May 1908 was noted in the AEA’s Economic Bulletin (June 1908, p. 114) where he was described as being “one of the best known of the younger economists.” Wyckoff cultivated the intersection of sociology and economics and made a name for himself through a pair of books that described his observer-participant experiences as a casual laborer during a year and a half tramp across the United States in 1891-93. 

Sociologists today appear to claim exclusive rights to Wyckoff but in his own day, it was far from clear that his particular brand of sociology was anything but a subfield of political economy, labor economics if you will. He can be compared to Edward Cummings at Harvard.

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Wyckoff’s Greatest Hits

The Workers, an Experiment in Reality: The East. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897.

The Workers, an Experiment in Reality: The West. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898.

A Day with a Tramp, and Other Days. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1901.

“In justice to the narratives it should be explained that they are submitted simply for what they are, the casual observations of a student almost fresh from college whose interest in life led him to undertake a work for which he had no scientific training.”

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Three internet sources about the life of Walter A. Wyckoff

Brett Tomlinson, The worker: How a cross-country trek defined the life of one of Princeton’s first social scientists. Princeton Alumni Weekly, 23 September 2009.

Beau Driver, “ ‘A place among original investigators’: Walter Wyckoff, Alfred Pierce, and Me” originally published in the blog of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (March 5, 2019). Republished in his personal blog 26 December 2019.

Website by Albert and Phyllis Krause “On the Trail of Walter A. Wyckoff” that traced his cross-country travels 1891-1893.

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Wyckoff’s life

Born April 12, 1865 in Mainpuri, India. Son of a Presbyterian missionary.

Prepared for college at the Hudson Academy and Freehold Institute.

1888. B.A. from College of New Jersey (i.e., Princeton).

Enrolled at the Princeton Theological Seminary for a year and then left to study and travel in Europe.

1891-1893. Spent 18 or 19 months as an unskilled worker. Left July 1891 to work from Connecticut to California  reaching San Francisco in early 1893.

1893-1894. Travelled twice around the world.

1894. Appointed Social Science Fellow upon return to Princeton.

1895. Wyckoff appointed lecturer in sociology at Princeton

Wyckoff’s 1895-96 course
  1. Sociology. An historical review of the evolution of modern industrialism. A critical analysis of the principal theories of social reconstruction. The genesis and development of a science of sociology. A review of the methods and results of sociological study. Senior Elective and Graduate course; second term [2]. Mr. Wyckoff. Lectures and recitations.

Note: this course was offered in “III. History and Political Science” that was distinct from “IV. Jurisprudence and Political Economy”

Source: Catalogue of the College of New Jersey at Princeton 1895-1896, p. 41.

1898. Promoted to assistant professor of political economy.

1899. Accompanied Princeton biologists on excursion to northern Greenland.

1900-1901.  Princeton academic department V. Political Economy and Sociology (staffed by Daniels and Wyckoff)

Wyckoff’s course listings 1900-1901.
  1. History of Social Theory. An historical and critical analysis of the principal theories of social reconstruction from the early Utopias to the various forms of modern anarchy and socialism. Senior Elective, open to both Academic and Scientific students; first term [2]. Lectures. Professor Wyckoff.
  1. Private Property Rights. The origin of private property rights and their subsequent modifications in civilized society, with special reference to present problems of land tenure and to private and public ownership and management of monopolies. Senior Elective, open to both Academic and Scientific students; second term [2]. Lectures. Professor Wyckoff.

[…]

Economic Seminary

[…]

  1. Genesis of Industrial Order. An ethnological study of industry, including the earliest forms of the division of labor, the domestication of animals and plants, the rise of slavery, the use of money, etc. Seminary course, open to graduates and approved Seniors, both Academic and Scientific; first term [2], not given in 1900–1901. Professor Wyckoff.
  1. Development of Industrialism. This course will continue and supplement course 7, and will treat of the rise of a new industrial order as an outcome of the industrial revolution, of the fac tory system, its development in the growth of capitalism and in the organization of labor, involving combinations, trusts, monopolies, and trades unions. Seminary course, open to graduates and approved Seniors, both Academic and Scientific; second term [2]. Professor Wyckoff.

Source.   Catalogue of Princeton University 1900-1901, p. 59-60.

Early 1900s. interviewed workers in London and Paris.

1903. Marriage to Leah Ehrich from Colorado (they had one daughter).

One of his students Norman Thomas (1905) joked that his (Wyckoff) professor “did a pretty good if by no means lasting job” of explaining to him why socialism could never work.

Economics Course Offerings at Princeton in 1907-08

Princeton University
Department of History, Politics, and Economics
Courses of Instruction in Economics 1907-08

Economics Faculty

Walter Maxwell Adriance, A.M., Preceptor in History, Politics, and Economics

Ernest Ludlow Bogart, Ph.D., Preceptor in History, Politics, and Economics

Winthrop More Daniels, A.M., Professor of Political Economy

Royal Meeker, Ph.D., Preceptor in History, Politics, and Economics.

Walter Augustus Wyckoff, A.M., Assistant Professor of Political Economy

Courses of Instruction

35, 36. Elements of Economics. This course will comprise the essential elements of the abstract theory of economics and some of the more essential applications and exemplifications of the theory, such as money, banking, transportation, international trade, and monopoly problems. There will be regularly one lecture a week, and two recitations in small groups to test the student’s apprehension of the subject matter covered in the reading. Fetter: Principles of Economics. Junior course, both terms, 3 hours a week. Prerequisite course: History 22. Prerequisite to Public Finance and General Social Theory. Professor Bogart and Professor Wyckoff.

[…]

  1. Economics. Public Finance. This course will cover the theory of public finance. Lectures with weekly conferences. Daniels: Public Finance. Reference book: Bullock: Selected Readings in Public Finance. Senior course, first term, 3 hours a week. Prerequisite courses: History 22 and Economics 35, 36. Professor Bogart.
  1. Economics. Social Theory. The course will cover the development of theories of social reconstruction with special reference to modern socialism and anarchy. Rae: Contemporary Socialism. Reference books: Webb: Industrial Democracy; Hobson: Evolution of Modern Capitalism. Senior course, second term, 3 hours a week. Prerequisite courses: History 22 and Economics 35, 36. Professor Wyckoff.

[…]

THE PRO-SEMINARY. In the Department of History, Politics, and Economics there will be a pro-seminary both terms; the pro-seminary to be divided into sections, one for history, one for politics, and one for economics. Admission to the pro-seminary will be conditioned upon a student’s obtaining in the Junior year courses in the Department the standing prescribed for entrance upon pro-seminary work. Professor Garfield will be the director of the pro-seminary, and will will take special charge of the pro-seminary section in politics. Professors Paul van Dyke and McElroy will conduct the historical section, and Professors Wyckoff and Meeker the economic section.

[…]

  1. Advanced Economic Theory. An exposition of economic theory; essentially a contrast of the classical and post-classical theories of distribution. Seminary course for competent graduates. Graduate course, second term, 3 hours a week. Professor Daniels.

121, 122. History of Economics. A résumé of economic ideas from the Middle Ages to modern times. Graduate course, both terms, 3 hours a week. Professor Adriance.

  1. Economic Regulation. A study of Factory Acts, Tenement Acts, Limited Liability Acts, and Employer’s Liability Acts, conducted in connection with the pro-seminary in 1907-1908. Graduate course, second term, 3 hours a week. Professor Wyckoff.
  1. History and Theory of Transportation. A survey of the improvements in methods and instruments of transportation since the application of steam, with the consequent changes in legal and economic theories relating to public carriers. The questions of state control, ownership, and operation are treated with special reference to American conditions. A reading knowledge of French and German will be helpful. Graduate course, first term, 3 hours a week. (Given in connection with the pro-seminary in 1907-1908.) Professor Meeker.
  1. The Industrial Evolution of the United States. An investigation in the development of typical American industries, domestic and foreign commerce, labor organizations, and similar problems. Graduate course, second term, 3 hours a week. Professor Bogart.

Source: Catalogue of Princeton University, 1907-1908, pp. 127, 129-132.

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Walter Augustus Wyckoff died May 15, 1908 in Princeton at age 43 following an aneurysm of his aorta.

Source: The Princeton yearbook Brick-a-Brack 1910, p. 16. The portrait has been colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Harvard. Tutorial System and Divisional General Final Examinations, 1920

 

The Division of History, Government and Economics played a pioneering role in implementing the curricular reforms at Harvard College initiated by President A. Lawrence Lowell around the time of the First World War. The Department of Economics was to play a leading role in the administration of the divisional tutors in history, government and economics.

President Lowell wanted to get away from the extreme laissez-faire implicit in the system of electives left by his predecessor, Charles W. Eliot, to combine elements of concentration with distributional requirements that would leave students a guided sovereignty to elect their courses. Divisional General Examinations and Tutors to provide individually tailored instruction and counseling were institutional means seen as necessary to escape “the mere scoring of a given number of courses which might be wholly unrelated”.

“…the individual student must be considered the unit in any plan of college education which allows some range of choice, but which requires also proof of a well-ordered body of knowledge as a condition of graduation…”

In the opinion of the faculty Committee on Instruction the tutorial system should be established to support the best and brightest students to achieve their individual potentials rather than as a support system to provide remedial instructional services for the “mediocre and lazy”. 

“…there is some danger in college work today that we shall give more consideration to the mediocre and lazy student than to the upper third of the class which contains the men who deserve the best training that can be given them and who are to provide the leaders of their time.”

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The General Final Examination and the Tutorial System

       The most important educational change, however, in Harvard College during recent years has been the establishment, as a requirement for the bachelor’s degree, of a general final examination on the student’s field of concentration; the problems which arise in connection with this plan are interesting and complex.

       When the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1909-10 voted to require each student to concentrate at least six courses in some single field or in related fields of knowledge, it thereby indicated its belief that knowledge of a subject is of more importance than the mere scoring of a given number of courses which might be wholly unrelated and which were often soon forgotten. Provision was made, at the same time, against undue concentration by a system of distribution, which, however, need not be considered here. Yet the requirement of concentration proved not to secure, in all cases, the choice of courses well related, and least of all did it require, or sufficiently encourage, the student to articulate and complete his knowledge of his field, by himself, through work outside the classroom. The next logical step, therefore, was taken in the autumn of 1912-13 when the Faculty passed the following vote:

  1. That the Division of History, Government, and Economics be authorized to require of all students whose field of concentration lies in this Division, in addition to the present requirements stated in terms of courses for the bachelor’s degree, a special final examination upon each student’s field of concentration; and that the passing of this examination shall be necessary in order to fulfill the requirements for concentration in this Division.
  2. That students who pass this special examination may be excused from the regular final examinations in such courses of their last year as fall within the Division of History, Government, and Economics, in the same way that candidates for distinction who pass a public test may now be excused under the rules of the Faculty.
  3. That this requirement go into effect with the class entering in 1913.
  4. That the Division of History, Government, and Economics submit for the sanction of the Faculty the detailed rules for the final examinations and such a detailed scheme of tutorial assistance as may be adopted before these are put into effect by the Division.

       The examinations thus established were first given at the close of 1915-16. Between that date and the end of the year 1919-20, these general examinations had been given to 444 men, of whom 26 (5.8+%) failed and therefore did not receive their degrees unless they passed the general examinations in some subsequent year; of the 418 who passed, 73 (17.4+%) won distinction and 345 (82.5+%) obtained a pass degree.

       General examinations had been used in the Medical School since 1911-12, and in the Divinity School since 1912-13, so that considerable knowledge of the actual working of such examinations was available by the opening of the academic year 1918-19. Accordingly on December 3, 1918, the Faculty passed the following vote under which a committee of nine was established:

       That a Committee be appointed to investigate the working of the general final examinations for degrees now used in various Departments of the University, and to consider the advisability of employing general final examinations on the fields of concentration in all Departments of Harvard College.

       After studying the subject for some months the Committee came to the conclusion that the advantages of the general final examination, particularly as employed in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, might be stated as follows:

    1. The examination has secured “concentration” in related subjects.
    2. It has encouraged the mastery of subjects or fields rather than of courses.
    3. It has given the Division a survey of the student’s capacity at the end of his college course.
    4. It has provided a more satisfactory method of awarding the degree with distinction than the plan formerly in use.

       The Committee therefore made the following recommendations, which the Faculty adopted April 1, 1919:

  1. That general final examinations be established for all students concentrating in Divisions or under Committees which signify their willingness to try such examinations, and that adequate means be provided to enable such Divisions and Committees to administer these examinations; it being understood that the control of the general final examinations shall rest with the several Divisions and Committees in the same manner as the control of the examinations for honors and distinction now given by them.
  2. That the new general final examinations be first employed for the members of the present freshman class.
  3. That, so far as possible, the adviser to whom each student is assigned, be a teacher in the student’s field of concentration.

       All Divisions had previously indicated their desire or willingness to employ such examinations except the Divisions of Mathematics and of the Natural Sciences. The chief reason for the attitude of the Divisions declining appears to lie in the nature of the subjects which they represent, for Mathematics and the Natural Sciences have, by and large, fairly fixed paths of advancement for the undergraduate, so that an examination in an advanced course is, at the same time, an examination on all the work which has preceded, as may very well not be the case in Literary, Historical, and Philosophical subjects.

       Beginning then, with the year 1921-22, general final examinations on the fields of concentration will be required of all candidates for the bachelor’s degree, save in the Divisions named above. The plan is an experiment, and the experience of at least ten years may be needed before its virtues and defects can be fully estimated; but in the meantime, the successful working of such examinations in the Medical School, the Divinity School, and especially in the Division of History, Government, and Economics under this Faculty, the welcome given the plan by the more serious part of the student body, and the interest in the experiment shown by other colleges, give grounds for entertaining much hope.

       The very plan of a general final examination, however, requires that the student shall select his courses wisely, do work outside his formal courses, and by reading and reflection coordinate the details he has learned into a body of ordered knowledge of his subject, so far as this can be done in undergraduate years. In all this he requires guidance and stimulus. The Division of History, Government, and Economics, therefore, from the first, has employed Tutors whose business it is to guide and assist students, individually, in their preparation for the general final examination. Tutoring for this purpose was, on the whole, a new problem in American education, although Princeton University had made some important experiments with its Preceptorial system, and “advisers” for undergraduates had long existed here and elsewhere; moreover, the Oxford and Cambridge system of Tutors obviously could not be transplanted without change to this country because of the differences in secondary and college education. Therefore it was, and still is, necessary to experiment in methods and to develop men for the work. At first tutorial duties were superimposed on other teaching, thus increasing the total amount of instruction given by those who were appointed Tutors, but this plan proved unwise for reasons which now seem fairly clear, but which were not so easily seen in advance. More recently many Tutors have given all their time to tutorial duties, and in some cases this may always be a wise plan; but it appears probable that in many cases it will be unwise for a Tutor to be excluded wholly from giving some formal instruction in his subject by means of a “lecture” course or otherwise, for it is important that every teacher should grow in depth as well as in breadth of knowledge, and such growth can probably usually be best assured him by having him give a course in the subject which he is making especially his own. At present, then, the arrangement which seems most promising is to provide that, so far as possible, each Tutor who desires it shall use a certain proportion of his time in giving formal instruction with the usual classroom methods, the rest, usually the major part of his teaching, being given in the less formal but equally important work of a Tutor.

       Tutorial work means work with the individual student. General suggestions and directions can be given to small groups about as effectively as to single students; yet since the individual student must be considered the unit in any plan of college education which allows some range of choice, but which requires also proof of a well-ordered body of knowledge as a condition of graduation, the Tutors must generally deal with individual students; and this is the regular method employed at the present time. The Tutor meets the students under his charge every week to discuss with them the reading which they have done, to help them solve their difficulties, and to give them suggestions for their future guidance. The good Tutor is in no sense a coach, but a friendly counselor whose knowledge and wisdom are put at the disposal of his students. Unquestionably the total amount of work now required of each student has been somewhat increased over that formerly exacted, but the amount is not so excessive as to call in itself for any remission of the present requirements of courses. The most important purpose, however, of this work done by the student outside his courses under the direction of the Tutor is to teach him how to learn and how to assimilate his knowledge. Ambitious and able students realize the value of such training and give themselves much of it, becoming candidates for distinction in their fields of concentration; the indolent and slow are content with a bare degree. When more experience has been gained the Faculty may well consider relaxing somewhat the requirements of four courses in the Senior year for candidates for distinction, whose previous records give promise of success; but the pass man deserves no increased opportunities for self-discipline since he will ordinarily have proved that he cannot or will not use them.

       In this connection the question may well be raised whether all men should receive equal attention from the Tutors. That there should be equal opportunities for all until some have shown themselves indifferent or unequal to them is beyond doubt; but when the wills and abilities of men have been well tested, as should ordinarily be the case by the end of the sophomore year, it seems only justice to the willing and able to give them more attention than is bestowed on the men who are content with a pass degree. Of course a chance must be given the repentant laggard to climb into the more deserving, and therefore more favored, group during his last two years. But there is some danger in college work today that we shall give more consideration to the mediocre and lazy student than to the upper third of the class which contains the men who deserve the best training that can be given them and who are to provide the leaders of their time.

       In the vote of April, 1919, the Faculty wisely left each Department or Division free to determine the nature of the assistance to be given students concentrating under it and the means by which such assistance shall be given. The Divisions of Philosophy and of Fine Arts propose to use Tutors, as the Division of History, Government and Economics has done from the beginning of the experiment; the several Departments of Languages and Literatures, ancient and modern, will employ advisory committees. But whatever names and methods are employed, the aim will always be to give the individual student assistance and encouragement in acquiring a body of well-organized knowledge in his field. In this direction apparently lies the next advance in the improvement of instruction in Harvard College.

CLIFFORD H. MOORE, Chairman.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1919-1920, pp. 100-104.

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Related previous posts

Harvard. First Undergraduate General and Specific Exams in History, Government and Economics Division, 1916.

Harvard. Economics degree requirements, A.B./A.M./Ph.D., 1921-1922

 

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Harvard M.I.T. Math Pedagogy Princeton Teaching Wisconsin

Harvard. Draft memo on “Basic Mathematics for Economics”. Rothschild, ca. 1970

 

“These bewildering cook-books [Allen, Lancaster, Samuelson, Henderson & Quandt] are as helpful to those without mathematical training as Escoffier is to weekend barbecue chefs.”

The 1969 M.I.T. economics Ph.D. Michael Rothschild served briefly as assistant professor of economics at Harvard, a professional milestone that went somehow unmentioned in his official Princeton biography included below. He co-taught the core graduate microeconomic theory course with Zvi Griliches in the spring term of 1971 which is probably why a draft copy of his memo proposing  “a course which truly covers ‘Basic Mathematics for Economists'” is found in Griliches’ papers at the Harvard Archives.

Tip: Here is a link to an interview with Michael Rothschild posted in YouTube (Dec. 4, 2012). A wonderful conversation revealing his academic humility and wit as well as an above-average capacity for self-reflection.

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Courses Referred to in Rothschild’s Memo

Economics 199. Basic Mathematics for Economists

Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 10. Professor G. Hanoch (Hebrew University).

Covers some of the basic mathematical and statistical tools used in economic analysis, including maximization and minimization of functions with and without constraint. Applications to economic theory such as in utility maximization, cost minimization, and shadow prices will be given. Probability and random variables will be treated especially as these topics apply to economic analysis.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, Harvard and Radcliffe 1969-1970. Published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LXVI, No. 12 (15 August 1969), p. 142.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Economics 201a. Advanced Economic Theory

Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Tu., Th., (S.), at 12. Professor D. Jorgenson (fall term); Professor W. Leontief (spring term).

This course will be concerned with production theory, consumption theory, and the theories of firms and markets.
Prerequisite: Economics 199 or equivalent.

Source: Ibid., p. 143.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Economics 221a. Quantitative Methods, I

Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Tu., Th., S., at 11. Assistant Professor A. Blackburn (fall term); Assistant Professor M. Rothschild (spring term).

Probability theory, statistical inference, and elementary matrix algebra.

Prerequisite: Economics 199 or equivalent

Source: Ibid., p. 146.

_________________________________

DRAFT
[Summer or Fall 1970?]

M. Rothschild

Economics 201a, as Professor Jorgenson now teaches it1, presumes much specialized mathematical knowledge. (See attachment 1) There is no single course which covers all these topics, (chiefly the implicit function theorem, constrained maximization and Euler’s theorem), in either the economics or mathematics departments at Harvard. We are in effect demanding that our students arrive knowing these things or that they learn them on their own. The former is unlikely, the latter more so. Imagine trying to learn the mathematics necessary to follow the standard derivation of the Slutsky equation by studying the standard sources such as Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists, Lancaster’s Mathematical Economics or the appendices to Samuelson’s Foundations or Henderson and Quandt. These bewildering cook-books are as helpful to those without mathematical training as Escoffier is to weekend barbecue chefs. Those with some knowledge of mathematics will not find the standard sources much more helpful for they are written in a spirit alien to that of modern mathematics; they give almost no motivation or intuition for their results.

There are other bits of mathematics necessary for a thorough understanding of basic economic theory. For instance, the stability theory of difference and differential equations, the theory of positive matrices and rudiments of duality and convexity theory are required for the stability analysis of simple macro models, input output economics, and linear programming respectively. These are hardly new fangled and abstruse parts of economic theory. Indeed they are topics which should be part of every economist’s competence.

There are courses at Harvard where one can learn these things; the difficulty is that there are so many. Advanced courses in mathematical economics treat of positive matrices, duality and much more. Few students take these courses and almost no first year students do. I have no doubt that somewhere in the mathematics or applied math department, there is a course where one may learn all one would want to know and more of difference and differential equations. But all economists really need to know can be taught in three weeks or less.2

There is an obvious solution to these problems, namely for the department to offer a course which truly covers “Basic Mathematics for Economists.”3 A proposed course outline is attached. The course begins with linear algebra because most of the specialized topics needed for mathematical economics are applications of the principles of linear algebra. I know of no one semester course at Harvard which teaches linear algebra in a manner useful to economists. Another advantage to including linear algebra in this course is that it would make it possible to drop the topic from Economics 221a which is presently supposed to teach linear algebra, probability theory, and statistics in a single semester.4 I doubt this can be done. If linear algebra were excluded from the syllabus of 221a, there would be less reason for offering the course in the economics department. We could reasonably expect that our students learn statistics and probability theory from the statistics department (in Statistics 122, 123 or 190).

*  *  *  *  *  *

1…and, I hasten to say, as it should be taught

2A word must be said here about Mathematics 21. This excellent full year course in linear algebra and the calculus of several variables contains all the insights, and almost none of the material, which economists should know. With a slight rearrangement of topics, principally the addition of the implicit function theorem, constrained maximization, and the spectral theory of matrices this would be a great course for economists. As it is now it is a good, but rather time consuming, way to develop mathematical maturity which should make it easy to learn the mathematical facts economists need to know.

3The present title of Economics 199 which is a remedial calculus course taken only by those students with almost no mathematical training.

4I became aware of the need for such a course while teaching 221a. After spending three very rushed weeks developing some of the basic notions of linear algebra I had to drop the subject just when it would have been easy to go on and explain the mathematics behind basic economic theory. The desire of the students that I do so is indicated by the fact that most of them were enticed to sit through a second (optional) hour of lecture on a Saturday by the promise that I would unravel the mysteries of the determinental second order conditions for maximization of a function of several variables.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Proposed course outline:
  1. Linear Algebra, vector spaces, linear independence, bases, linear mappings, matrices, linear equations, determinants.
  2. Cursory review of the calculus of several variable from the vector space point of view, the implicit function theorem, Taylor’s theorem.
  3. Quadratic forms and maximization with and without constraints; diagonalization, orthogonality and metric concepts, projections.
  4. The Theory of Positive matrices; matrix power series.
  5. Linear Difference Equations, stability.
  6. Linear Differential Equations, stability.
  7. Convex sets and Duality. (If time permits.)

_________________________________

Michael Rothschild

Mike Rothschild first came to Princeton in 1972 as a lecturer in economics and quickly rose to the rank of professor three years later. Mike is an economist with broad interests in social science. His 1963 B.A. from Reed College was in anthropology, his 1965 M.A. from Yale University was in international relations, and his 1969 Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was in economics.

In the early 1970s, Mike published a string of ground- breaking papers studying decision making under uncertainty and showing the effects of imperfect and asymmetric information on economic outcomes. With Joseph Stiglitz, Mike proposed now- standard definitions of what it means for one random variable to be “riskier” than another random variable. He studied consumer behavior when the same good is offered at different prices and when the consumer does not know the distribution of prices. He studied the pricing behavior of fi when they are uncertain about demand and showed that a fi may end up setting the wrong price even when it optimally experiments to learn about the demand for its product. Arguably, Mike’s most important early work was a 1976 paper with Stiglitz on insurance markets in which insurance companies did not know the heterogeneous risk situations of their customers. Mike and Stiglitz showed that under certain circumstances a market equilibrium exists in which companies offer a menu of policies with different premiums and deductibles that separate customers into appropriate risk groups. This research is one of the landmarks in the field of information economics.

Mike left Princeton in 1976 for the University of Wisconsin and moved to the University of California–San Diego (UCSD) seven years later. His research over this period included papers on taxation, investment, jury-decision processes, and several important papers in finance. Mike’s research contributions led to recognition and awards: he became a fellow of the Econometric Society in 1974, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978, became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994, and in 2005 was chosen as a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association.

In 1985, Mike decided to branch out from teaching and research, and he spent the next 17 years in university administration. Shortly after arriving at UCSD he became that university’s first dean of social sciences. Under his watch, the division grew dramatically in the number of students, faculty, departments, and programs. He presided over the launching of cognitive science, ethnic studies, and human development. During his deanship, the UCSD social sciences soared in the national rankings, reaching 10th nationally in the last National Research Council tally for 1996.

Mike was lured back to Princeton in 1995 to become the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. During his seven-year tenure as dean, Mike started the one-year Master in Public Policy program for mid-career professionals; the Program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy; the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics; and the Center for Health and Wellbeing. Under his leadership, the Wilson School added graduate policy workshops to the curriculum, expanded course offerings, added multi-year appointments of practitioners to the faculty, and enhanced professional development. Mike shared his dean duties with his trusted and loyal dog, Rosie, who became an important part of the school’s community and accompanied Mike throughout campus.

Finally, Mike likes to wear a hardhat. At UCSD he oversaw the planning and construction of the Social Sciences Building, and at Princeton he built Wallace Hall and renovated Robertson Hall. The Princeton community may remember Mike most for turning Scudder Plaza from the home of a formal reflecting pool where guards kept people out of the fountain into a community wading pool that welcomes and attracts students, families, and children (many under the age of three) each summer evening.

Source: Princeton University Honors Faculty Members Receiving Emeritus Status (May 2009), pp. 18-20.

Image Source: Screenshot from the interview (Posted Dec. 4, 2012 in YouTube).

Categories
Exam Questions History of Economics Princeton Suggested Reading Syllabus

Princeton. History of Economic Thought. Reading List, General Exam. Baumol, 1987-1988

What I find useful about the syllabus on classical economics from William Baumol’s Princeton course transcribed below is that it provides a lean and precise list of original text reading assignments to work through. Full-blown bibliographies have their use for students when writing term papers, but this butcher’s choice of filet cuts provides a wholesome main course that will last a semester and provide pleasant memories for a lifetime.

Here you will find other postings at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror that offer material from courses in the history of economics.

_______________________

Alan B. Krueger’s Interview with William J. Baumol in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Summer 2001), pp. 211-231.

_______________________

Princeton University
Department of Economics

Economics 506
History of Economic Thought

Fall Term 1988

Professor W.J. Baumol

Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations, 1776, Book I, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 (first 20 pages), 10 (first 17 pages); Book II, Chapter 3; Book IV, Chapters 1, 2, 8.

Malthus, T.R., An Essay on the Principle of Population, 1798, Pelican Edition, 1970, Introduction by Anthony Flew, Chapters 1-5, 18, 19.

Ricardo, David, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, London, 1817, Chapters I-X, XIX-XXI, XXX-XXXI.

*Ricardo David, Notes on Malthus, Piero Sraffa, editor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951, Editor’s Introduction and pp. 300-382.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party.

Marx, Karl, Capital (3 volumes), New York: International Publishing Company.

Volume I: Author’s Prefaces; Chapter 1; Chapter 3, Sections II a, b; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7, Section 2; Chapter 8; Chapter 9, Sections 1, 3, 4; skim Chapter 10; Chapter 15, Section 6; Chapter 16; Chapter 24, Sections 2, 3, 5; Chapter 25.

Volume II:Preface; Chapter 9; Chapter 16, Part 3; pp. 390-396 (Chapter 17, last 6 pages on Simple Reproduction); Chapter 20; pp. 576-9 (Chapter 21, I, Accumulation in Department 1 (1) formation of a hoard).

Volume III: Preface; Chapters 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 22, 27, 37, 38, 48.

*Marx, Karl,  A Critique of the Gotha Program, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1937.

*On reserve at Firestone Library.

Source: Edward Tower (compiler). Economics Reading Lists, Course Outlines, Exams, Puzzles & Problems, Vol. 24. History of Economic Thought. Durham, NC: Eno River Press, August 1990, page 38.

_______________________

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

General Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

History of Economic Thought
January 1987

Time: 3 hours

  1. Distinguish the roles of the labor command and the labor content discussions of value in Adam Smith. What was Smith’s general model of the determination of long run exchange value under competition?
  2. In terms of the formal Ricardian model, explain the consequences of elimination of a tariff on grain (corn) (a) in the short run; (b) in the long run.
  3. (a) Explain why, in Marx’s view, profits under capitalism can be expected to decline with the passage of time. (b) Why did he reject Ricardo’s model leading to the same conclusion? (c) On what grounds has Marx’s model of the declining profit rate been criticized?
  4. In one sentence each, characterize some of the main work of the following:
    1. Jeremy Bentham
    2. Frederick Bastiat
    3. J.B. Clark
    4. J. R. McCulloch
    5. Enrico Barone
  5. (for Arthur Moretti) Describe the logic of the Hayek business cycle model. What role is played by technological elements? by monetary elements? What is the pertinence of the “Ricardo effect?”
  6. (for Kin Yip Louie) Explain the source of Marshall’s error in using consumers’ surplus to argue that increasing returns industries should be subsidized. Would the Hicksian analysis of the four consumers surpluses have helped ra avoid the error? Why or why not?
  7. (for Susan Skeath [“Susan Skeath van Mulbregt”, Princeton Ph.D., 1989; Professor of Economics at Wellesley College]) Explain the role played by utility in J. S. Mill’s value theory. Does his utility concept lead him to particular policy conclusions? How do Mill’s views on the appropriate role of government differ from those of his classical predecessors?
  8. (for Teow-Hock Koh [“Winston Teow-Hock Koh”, Princeton Ph.D., 1988; Professor at Singapore Management University; died 2013]) (To what extent does Malthus’ contradistinction to his analysis conclusions) structure anticipate the of the Keynesian model? In provide a answering this, summary of the workings of the pertinent parts the Keynesian analysis. What features of Marxian Theory overlap with the Keynesian model?
  9. (for Vicente Morales) a) Describe any of the mathematical solutions to the transformation problem showing how prices and the rate of profit are related to values and the rate of surplus value. b) Explain Samuelson’s criticism of the entire analysis and Morishima’s reply.

Source: Edward Tower (compiler). Economics Reading Lists, Course Outlines, Exams, Puzzles & Problems, Vol. 24. History of Economic Thought. Durham, NC: Eno River Press, August 1990, pp. 266-267.

Image Source:  Cropped from portrait of William J. Baumol in 1981 published in his obituary published in The New York Times, May 10, 2017.

Categories
Chicago Funny Business Harvard M.I.T. Princeton

M.I.T. Faculty Skit, Playing Monopoly at Lunch, 1986

 

It has been a while since I have added an artifact to the MIT economics skits wing of the Funny Business Archives here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. Apparently the following script was a, if not the sole, late-20th century MIT faculty skit not written by Robert Solow. I can believe that. In any event, today’s post is further grist to the mill for social historians of economics.

Again a grateful tip of the hat to Roger Backhouse is in order.

__________________

1986 FACULTY SKIT

(Skit opens with Dornbusch, Fischer, Diamond, Eckaus and McFadden seated around MONOPOLY board. Farber is standing alongside, watching the game. Fisher and Hausman are in the wings to make walk-on appearances).

ANNOUNCER: One of the most important unwritten rules in the Economics Department is that no one but Bob Solow writes the skit. This year, Bob reportedly outdid himself and wrote a sitcom in which Bob Lucas is struck by a blinding light while driving to work and transformed into a neo-Keynesian. The skit, titled “I’m OK, You’re OK,” follows Lucas’ attempts to explain why he is estimating Phillips curves to Lars Hansen and Tom Sargent.

Unfortunately, Bob is unable to be with us tonight, since he is delivering the presidential address to the Eastern Economic Association in Philadelphia. When we opened the envelope marked “SKIT” which Bob left for us, we were surprised to discover only a copy of his presidential address. We suspect he had a somewhat bigger surprise when he opened his envelope in Philadelphia. [Address published as “What is a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? Macroeconomics after Fifty Years” Eastern Economic Journal, July-September 1986]

We were of course scared skitless when we realized our predicament, and we were tempted to re-run some of the great Solow skits of the past. There was the 1974 Watergate Skit, in which Paul Colson Joskow testifies to Senator Sam Peltzman that he would run over his grandmother to get a t-statistic above two. There was the 1978 Star Wars skit, in which Milton Vader and his minions capture the wookie Jerrybaca and hold him captive in the Chicago Money Workshop. And in the incredible 1973 MASH skit, Hawkeye Hall and Trapper Jerry Hausman find Radar Diamond and Hot Lips Friedlaender cavorting in the Chairman’s office. (If that doesn’t give Solow Rational expectations, what does?)

We guessed that you had all seen these re-runs on late-nite channel 56, however, and therefore decided to try something new and provide a partial answer to the age-old question: What Really Goes On in the Freeman Room at Lunchtime on Wednesdays? We now invite you to join us for a brief look at one of these infamous gatherings…

 

MCFADDEN: (Rolling dice). “Who owns Oriental Avenue?”

DORNBUSCH: Me. That’s six dollars.

FISCHER: My turn? (Rolls dice). Damn. Inflation tax again; Here’s ten percent of my cash balances. I passed go, didn’t I?

DIAMOND: Uh huh. Here’s $186 dollars.

FISCHER: I should get $200.

DIAMOND: Not since Gramm-Rudman. Everything’s reduced seven percent across the board.

DORNBUSCH: My turn. (Rolling dice). Four. (Reaches over and moves marker).

ECKAUS: No way, Rudi—you just moved six places. No overshooting in this game. (Hands Dornbusch Chance card)

DORNBUSCH: Ah. Go directly to Brazil. Do not return until the day classes start.

HAUSMAN: (Walking in from side of stage) How come you guys are playing MONOPOLY? I thought you usually played RISK…

DIAMOND: Oliver [Hart] took that game home. You know, his contract calls for RISK-sharing…

HAUSMAN: Can you believe the graduate students scheduled the skit party for the Friday before income taxes are due? The only people who’ll come are graduate students and people like theorists who file 1040 EZ’s. (walks off)

(FISHER walks in)

DIAMOND: (Rolling dice). My turn. Oriental again. Six more dollars for Dornbusch.

FISCHER: That’s a pretty profitable property, Rudi.

FISHER: How many times do I have to say it! You can’t possibly tell that from accounting numbers! (Pause). Why don’t we ever play fun games, like Consultant?

ECKAUS: I hear Jorgensen and Griliches play that all the time up at Harvard. Maybe you should give them a call.

FISHER: They’re never around.

DIAMOND: Of course not, Frank—that’s how you play consultant.

(FISHER exits.)

FARBER: Speaking of Harvard, how are we doing on graduate recruitment this year? I heard there was some Princeton scandal.

DIAMOND: The AEA put them on probation for recruiting violations. People could look the other way when they offered prospective students money and cars, but this year Joe Stiglitz promised to write a joint paper with all entering students.

FARBER: They’re really giving out cars?

DIAMOND: Sure. Yugo’s.

FARBER: All I got was a motorcycle…

MCFADDEN: Harvard and Princeton have been dumping all over us. Every prospective student has heard that Jerry Hausman cashed in his Frequent Flyer miles for a 727. And some even know that Marty Weitzman has a Harvard offer.

FISCHER: Well, that offer was certainly no surprise. The Harvard deans read THE SHARE ECONOMY and decided they should hire more workers.

DIAMOND: Still, we’re getting the best students. This morning I signed a Yale undergrad by offering him Solow’s office. I figured Bob can share E52-390 with Krugman, Eckaus, and Farber next year. But what happens when we run out of river-view offices?

FARBER: How’s Harvard doing on recruiting?

ECKAUS: Not too well. They’re on a big kick to look relevant. Mas-Collel’s going nuts—Dean Spence has a new rule that any agent in a theoretical model has to have a proper name. Andreu’s having real problems with his continuum papers…

MCFADDEN: I hear the Kennedy School’s helping their visibility. Have you heard about the new Meese Distinguished Service Medal?

DIAMOND: No. Who’s getting them?

MCFADDEN: Sammy Stewart for Distinguished Relief Pitching,
Martin Feldstein for Distinguished Empirical Work,
Larry Summers for Distinguished Dress,
NASA for distinction in Travel Safety,
Bob Lucas and Bob Barro for Distinguished Plausible Assumptions,
Ferdinand Marcos for Distinguished Contributions to Charity,
and John Kenneth Galbraith for Distinguished Use of Mathematics.

DORNBUSCH: Harvard’s visibility campaign’s paying off. Just last week one of their junior guys hit the cover of PEOPLE magazine with a paper about marriage rates among movie stars.

FISCHER: You read PEOPLE?

FARBER: The National Enquirer had a story about a Harvard student who claimed to have a picture of Jeff Sachs in Littauer. Just like the old days with Howard Hughes…

DORNBUSCH: Perhaps we should return to the game.

(MODIGLIANI walks on).

DIAMOND: My turn again? (Rolls dice and moves piece). Community Chest. (Looking at card) You are elected department head. Lose three turns.

(Someone walks up and hands DIAMOND a telephone message. He stands up.)

DIAMOND: I nearly forgot. I’m scheduled to join Mike Weisbach who is taking a prospective student windsurfing this afternoon. Figured it was the least I could do to convince him we were as laid back as Stanford. Franco—do you want to take my place?

MODIGLIANI: (Sitting down in Diamond’s place) So, what are the new developments on the Monopoly front? [Famous Modigliani paper “New Developments on the Oligopoly Front,” JPE, June 1958] (Pause) Now, which of these pieces is Peter’s?

MCFADDEN: The coconut. [Reference here to Diamond’s coconut model of a search economy.]

MODIGLIANI: My turn now?

FISCHER: No Franco—but go ahead. [presumably a reference to Modigliani’s propensity to talk, and talk, and talk.]

MODIGLIANI: (Rolls dice and moves marker). Chance. (McFadden hands him a card). What is this? You have won second prize in a Beauty Contest, Collect $10? This is NOT POSSIBLE. This year I win only FIRST PRIZES [reference to 1985 Nobel Prize for Economics].

DORNBUSCH: (To audience) Wait till he gets the bequest card… [cf. the JEP Spring 1988 paper by Modigliani that surveys the bequest motive]

FISCHER: Franco, I have a deal for you. I’ll trade you Mediterranean and the Water Works for North Carolina and an agreement that you never charge me rent on either property. If you renege, I’ll order Chinese food.

MODIGLIANI: No deal. But what’s this about Chinese food?

FISCHER: It’s a new thing I learned from Garth [Soloner]—it makes the deal sub-gum perfect.

MCFADDEN: My turn. (Rolls and draws a Chance card). My favorite card: Advance Token to the Railroad with the Highest Logit Probability Value. Let me see which one that is… (pulls out a calculator)

FISCHER: While we’re waiting for Dan to converge, how did we do in junior hiring? Did we get that Princeton theorist?

ECKAUS: No dice. All the Princeton guys told him not to come.

DORNBUSCH: Why?

ECKAUS: They said “Go to Yale, go directly to Yale.”

MODIGLIANI: What about senior appointments?

FARBER: Ask Peter [Temin]. He’s on the Search Committee.

MCFADDEN: (Looking up from calculator). I’m having convergence problems. Maybe we should postpone the game for a few minutes while I run down to the PRIME.

[the image of the last page at my disposal is very blurred, fortunately it is only the wrap-up by the announcer]

ANNOUNCER: As you all know, NOTHING takes a few minutes on the PRIME. So until next year, when the [?] [?] Solow who accompanied Stan, 3PO and R2D2 to [?] the [?] [?] from Chicago returns to produce another skit. Good night.

 

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Robert M. Solow, Box 83.

Categories
Berkeley Economists Harvard Princeton

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. Alumnus, Merton Kirk Cameron, 1921

 

After graduating from Princeton, Merton K. Cameron taught high-school Latin, Greek and History before going on for graduate work in economic history at Harvard University where he co-taught courses in the economics of transportation and the economics corporations with Professor William Z. Ripley in 1915-16.

From his obituary in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (23 May 1952, p. 5) we learn that he retired from the University of Hawaii in August, 1949 because of ill health and then moved with his family to California. It was reported that Cameron was “a member of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, Phi Gamma Delta, American Association of University Professors, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu, National Association of Cost Accountanats and the American Economics Association.”

Merton Kirk Cameron was born 7 January 1886 in Cecil County, Maryland and died 22 May 1952 in San Gabriel, California.

_________________

Harvard Economics Ph.D., 1921

Merton Kirk Cameron, A.B. (Princeton Univ.) 1908, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1914.

Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economic History. Thesis, “The History of Tobacco-Growing in the Ohio Valley.”
Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Oregon.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1920-21, p. 60.

_________________

Summer School, Berkeley 1932

Merton Kirk Cameron, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics and Business, University of Hawaii.

A.B., Princeton University, 1908; M.A., 1914, Ph.D., 1921, Harvard University. Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Oregon, 1920-23, Associate Professor, 1923-28; Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii, since 1928.
Author: Experience of Oregon with Popular Election and Recall of Public Service Commissioners; Some Neglected Aspects of the Problem of Poverty; The Political Pressure on the State Commissioners; Some Economic Causes of the Backward Condition in the Ante-Bellum Ohio Valley Tobacco District.

Source: University of California, Intersession and Summer Session, 1932 at Berkeley. (Officers of Administration and Instruction, Visiting Instructors), p. 4.

_________________

From the Princeton Alumni Weekly (1952)
Memorial

Merton Cameron, Ph.D., educator and author of many scientific books and articles on sociological and economic studies, died on May 22, 1952 at his home in San Gabriel, Calif. For the past 30 years prior to his retirement in 1950 he was professor of Economics and chairman of the Dept. of Economics and Business at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. During World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he was active in defense work in Honolulu, both in directing the construction of bomb shelters and as an expert on finger prints. At that time his wife, Margaret, served in the Honolulu Office of Censorship.

Froggy, as he was affectionately known in college, elected teaching as a career, having served on the faculties of several U.S. schools including the Lanier High School in Maryland, the Donald Fraser School of Decatur, Ga. [ca. 1908], and the Riverside Military Academy at Gainesville, Ga. [ca. 1911], before accepting an offer from the University of Hawaii. He was one of those rare teachers who was not only a master of his subject but able to arouse enthusiastic response and admiration from his pupils.

Surviving in addition to his wife, Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Sullivan Cameron, are a son, Merton K. Jr.; a daughter Edith, wife of Col. Kenneth R. Kenerick and two grandchildren, Karen J. Kenerick and Kaye Elizabeth Kenerick.

To the members of his family who survive the Class extends its sincere sympathy.

For the Class of 1908
Robert C. Clothier, President
Courtland N. Smith, Secretary

Source: Princeton Alumni Weekly, July 4, 1952, p. 34.

Image Source: University of Hawaii Yearbook, 1936.

Categories
Economists Princeton

Princeton. Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann as Beach Buddies

 

Friend of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, Karin Papp, has provided us a copy of this photo of Oskar Morgenstern (her father) and John von Neumann dressed for the beach. The history of economics is one digital artifact richer, thank you Karin!

I propose we give this snapshot the title “The Theory of Games: Beach Blanket Bingo edition”.

Incidentally, Oskar Morgenstern was named #38 in the Economists Wearing Bowties collection of this blog.

Categories
Economists Harvard Policy Princeton Williams

Harvard. Economics PhD Alumnus. Donald Holmes Wallace, 1931

 

The previous post included lists of books used for undergraduate and graduate courses dealing with the economics of railroad regulation taught at Harvard in the mid-1930s. The list was put together by Donald Holmes Wallace who was a recent Harvard Ph.D. graduate and soon to be appointed to an assistant professorship in economics.

His career was cut short at age 50 by a heart attack. His early promise was recognized with the award of the prestigious David A. Wells prize for his 1931 dissertation on the aluminum industry.

________________________

Ph.D. 1931

Donald Holmes Wallace, A.B. 1924, A.M. 1928.

Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economics of Corporate Organization. Thesis, “The Aluminum Monopoly in the United States.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1930-31, p. 120.

________________________

Donald Holmes Wallace
(1903-1953)

Born in West Chester, PA, June 29, 1903.

1924. A.B. Harvard.

1924. Taught at the Suffield school in Suffield, CT.

1925. Instructor in economics at the University of Vermont.

1926-27. Assistant in economics at Harvard

1927-36. Instructor and tutor in economics at Harvard.

1928. A.M., Harvard.

1931. Ph.D., Harvard. Thesis: The Aluminum Monopoly in the United States.
Awarded the David A. Wells dissertation prize 1933-34.

1931-32. Year in Europe funded by a Social Science Research Council grant.

1937. Revised version of dissertation published by Harvard University Press: Market Control in the Aluminum Industry.  “The present study first took partial form as a doctoral dissertation (presented in 1931) upon the aluminum monopoly in the United States. Thereafter, the scope of the inquiry was widened to include market control in Europe and international relations in this industry.”–Preface.

1937-39. Assistant professor of economics at Harvard

1939. Associate professor of economics at Williams.

1939. Part-time economist for the Department of Labor

1940. Consultant of the National Defense Advisory Commission

1941. Consultant of the Office of Price Administration

1942-43. Director of OPA industrial manufacturing price division.

1943, Summer. Acting deputy administrator for prices of OPA.

1943-1945. (He resigned from Williams in 1945) Economic adviser to the deputy price administrator.

1945-1953. American Economic Association’s representative on the National Bureau of Economic Research.

1946-47. Member of the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers.

1948. Hired by Princeton “to inaugurate the graduate study program of Woodrow Wilson School, as well as apppointment as Professor of Economics.

1951. Vice-President of the American Economic Association.

1953, September 19. Died in Princeton, NJ. [Final position: Director of the Graduate Program of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs]

Source:  North Adams Transcript (MA), September 21, 1943, p. 3; Eveline M. Burns “In Memoriam, Donald Holmes Wallace”, AER, Papers and Proceedings (May, 1954), p. 696.

Image Source: Dr. Donald H. Wallace. Head Economic Analyst, Office of Price Administration (OPA) and Civilian Supply. From the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph Collection. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

 

Categories
Brown Chicago Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Economics Programs Harvard Illinois Kansas M.I.T. Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Pennsylvania Princeton Purdue Rochester Swarthmore Vanderbilt Vassar Virginia Washington University Wellesley Williams Wisconsin Yale

United States. Courses of Study of Political Economy. 1876 and 1892-93.

 

The first article in the inaugural issue of The Journal of Political Economy, “Courses of Study in Political Economy in the United States in 1876 and in 1892-93,” was written by the founding head of the University of Chicago’s department of political economy, J. Laurence Laughlin. This post provides Laughlin’s appendix that provided information about economics courses taught in 65 colleges/universities in the United States during the last quarter of the 19th century. The bottom line of the table is that “aggregate hours of instruction in 1892-3 [were] more than six times the hours of instruction given in 1876”.

__________________________

“How little Political Economy and Finance were taught only fifteen years ago, as compared with the teaching of to-day, must be surprising even to those who have lived and taught in the subject during that period…. At the close of the war courses of economic study had practically no existence in the university curriculum; in short, the studious pursuit of economics in our universities is scarcely twenty years old. These considerations alone might be reasons why economic teaching has not yet been able to color the thinking of our more than sixty millions of people. But about the close of the first century of our national existence it may be said that the study of Political Economy entered upon a new and striking development. This is certainly the marked characteristic of the study of Political Economy in the last fifteen years. How great this has been may be seen from the tables giving the courses of study, respectively, in about 60 institutions in the year 1876 and in 1892-3. (See Appendix I.) The aggregate hours of instruction in 1892-3 are more than six times the hours of instruction given in 1876.” [Laughlin, p. 4]

__________________________

Courses of Study in Political Economy in the United States in 1876 and in 1892-93.

Note: Returns could not be obtained from Johns Hopkins University, Amherst College, and some other institutions.

Institution.

Description of Courses.

1876.

1892-3.

No. hours per week.

 No. weeks in year. No. hours per week.

No. weeks in year.
University of Alabama.

Text Book and Lectures, Senior Year

Finance and Taxation

—

—

 —

—

 4

2

36

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 216
Boston University. Principles of Political Economy — — 3 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 60
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

Elementary (Required)

Advanced (Elective)

5

—

 14

—

 4

4

12

10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 88
Brown University, Providence, R. I.

Elementary

History of Econ. Thought

Advanced Course

[2nd] Advanced Course

Seminary of History, Pol. Sci., and Pol. Econ.

2½

—

—

—

—

 16-17

—

—

—

—

 3

3

3

3

2

33-34

11-12

11

11

23
[Total hours of instruction per year] 40-42½ 242-250
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 1.     Introductory Political Economy

2.     Descriptive Political Economy

3.     Advanced Political Economy

4.     Industrial and Economic History

5.     Scope and Method

6.     History of Political Economy

7.     Unsettled Problems

8.     Socialism

9.     Social Economics

10.   Practical Economics

11.   Statistics

12.   Railway Transportation

13.   Tariff History of U.S.

14.   Financial History of U.S.

15.   Taxation

16.   Public Debts

17.   Seminary

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 5

4

5

4

4

5

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

12

12

12

24

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 996
Colby University, Waterville, Maine.

Elementary [1st]

Elementary [2nd]

Theoretical

Historical

5

—

—

—

 7

—

—

—

 2

2

4

4

13

10

13

10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 35 138
Columbia College (School of Political Science, New York City. 1.     Principles of Political Economy (Element.)

2.     Historical Practical Political Economy (Advanced)

3.     History of Economic Theory (Advanced)

4.     Public Finance (Adv.)

5.     Railroad Problems (Adv.)

6.     Finan. History of U.S. (Adv.)

7.     Tariff History of U.S. (Adv.)

8.     Science of Statistics (Adv.)

9.     Communism and Socialism (Adv.)

10.   Taxation and Distribution (Adv.)

11.   Seminarium in Political Economy (Element.)

12.   Seminarium in Public Finance and Economy (Adv.)

13.   Law of Taxation (Adv.)

3 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9
given in alternate years.

2

 

—

—

 

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

—

 17

 

—

—

 

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

—

 2

 

3

2

 

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

 

 

2

2

17

 

34

34

 

34

25

34

17

34

34

17

34

 

34

17
[Total hours of instruction per year] 34 764
Columbian University, Washington, D.C. Elements of Political Economy — — 5 8
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 40
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 1.     Elementary Political Economy

2.     Advanced Political Economy

3.     Finance

4.     Financial History

5.     Railroad Problems

6.     Currency and Banking

7.     Economic History

8.     Statistics

2

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 11

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 3

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

34

34

34

13

11

10

34

34
[Total hours of instruction per year] 22 408
Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3.     Advanced Finance and Tariff

6

—

—

 6

—

—

 6

6

6

6 2/3

4 1/6

3 1/3
[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 85
University of Denver, Col. 1.     Ely’s Introduction

2.     Ingram’s History

3.     Gilman’s Profit-Sharing

4.     Ely, Labor Movement in America

5.     Kirkup’s and Rae’s Socialism

6.     Finance and Taxation

7.     International Commerce

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

—

—

—

 2

1

1

2

2

4

2

15

5

5

5

5

5

5
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 90
DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.

Economics (Elementary)

Seminarium (Advanced)

4

—

12

—

4

2

18

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 144
Drury College, Springfield, Mo. Elementary Course 5 6 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 60
Emory College, Oxford, Ga. Jevons’ Text, and Lectures. — — 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 60
Franklin and Marshall College. Political Economy, (Walker’s) 2 15 2 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 40
Georgetown College, Ky. 1.     General Economics

2.     Special Topics

5

—

 15

—

 3

3

 20

20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 75 120
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1.     Introductory

2.     Theory (Advanced)

3.     Economic History from 1763

4.     Railway Transportation

5.     Tariff History of U.S.

6.     Taxation and Public Debts

7.     Financial Hist. of U.S.

8.     Condition of Workingmen

9.     Economic Hist. to 1763

10.   History of Theory to Adam Smith

Seminary

3

3

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 30

30

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 3

3

3

3

2

3

2

3

3

2

2

30

30

30

15

15

30

15

30

30

15

30
[Total hours of instruction per year] 180 735
Haverford College, Pa. Economic Theory — — 2 40
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 80
Howard University, Washington, D. C. Elementary 5 10 5 10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 50 50
Illinois College and Whipple Academy, Jacksonville, Ill. Newcomb’s Polit. Economy, Seniors — — 5 15
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 75
University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill. Senior Class 5 11 5 11
[Total hours of instruction per year] 55 55
Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa.

Political Economy

Taxation

Railroad Problems

Socialism

5

—

—

—

 10

—

—

—

 3

3

3

3

37

14

12

11
[Total hours of instruction per year] 50 222
State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

Elements of Economics

Currency and Banking

Industrial Revolutions of 18th Century

Recent Econ. History and Theory

Railroads, Pub. Regulation of

Seminary in Polit. Econ.

5

—

—

 

—

—

—

 14

—

—

 

—

—

—

 5

5

2

 

2

2

1

 14

11

14

 

11

10

35
[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 230
Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kan. Elementary, 4th year 5 8 5 11
[Total hours of instruction per year] 40 55
Kansas State University, Lawrence, Kansas. 1.     Elements of Political Economy

2.     Applied Economics

3.     Statistics

4.     Land Tenures

5.     Finance

5

—

—

—

—

 19

—

—

—

—

 5

3

2

2

2

 19

19

19

19

19
[Total hours of instruction per year] 95 266
Lake Forest University, Lake Forest, Ill. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3

—

 11

—

 3

3

 16

13
[Total hours of instruction per year] 33 87
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. 1.     Political Economy, Elem., Junior Year

2.     Financial Hist. of U.S., Jun. and Sen. Year

3.     Taxation, Junior and Senior Year

4.     History of Commerce

5.     History of Industry, Junior and Senior Year.

6.     Socialism, etc. (Option), Jun. and Sen. Year

7.     History of Economic Theory (Opt.), Senior

8.     Statistics and Graphic Methods, Junior

9.     Statistics and Sociology (Option) Senior

2

—

 

—

—

—

 

—

—

 

—

—

 15

—

 

—

—

—

 

—

—

 

—

—

 3

3

 

3

3

—

 

3

2

 

2

3

 15

15

 

15

15

—

 

15

15

 

15

15
[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 375
Michigan Agricultural College. Primary Course — — 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 60
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1.     Elements of Political Economy

2.     Elements of Political Economy

3.     Hist. Devel. of Industr. Society

4.     Finance

5.     Problems in Pol. Econ

6.     Transportation Problem

7.     Land Tenure and Agrarian Movements

8.     Socialism and Communism

9.     Currency and Banking

10.   Tariff History of U.S.

11.   Indust. and Comm. Develop. of U.S.

12.   History of Pol. Econ.

13.   Statistics

15.   Economic Thought

16.   Labor and Monopoly Problems

17.   Seminary in Finance

18.   Seminary in Economics

20.   Social Philosophy with Economic Relations

21.   Current Econ. Legislation and Literature

2½

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

 18

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

 3

4

3

4

4

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

2

1

 

2

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

 

18
[Total hours of instruction per year] 45 756
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. 1.     Elementary (Junior Class)

2.     Advanced (Senior Class)

3.     Finance (Senior Class)

4.     Seminary

4

4

—

—

 10

10

—

—

 3

2

2

1

 35

21

14

21
[Total hours of instruction per year] 80 196
University of Minnesota. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3.     Am. Pub. Economy

4.     Undergraduate Seminary

5.     Graduate Seminary

5

—

—

—

—

 13

—

—

—

—

 4

4

4

2

1

 13

13

10

23

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 65 226
University of Mississippi, University, Miss. Advanced — — 5 30
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 150
Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.

Polit. Econ. (General)

Polit. Econ. Seminary

—

—

 —

—

 4

2

 12

12
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 72
College of New Jersey at Princeton.

Pol. Econ. (Elem., Elective)

Pol. Econ. (Elem., Required)

Finance (Elective)

Historics—Econ. Semin.

2

—

—

—

 13

—

—

—

 —

2

2

2

 —

16

16

15
[Total hours of instruction per year] 26 94
College of the City of New York. — — — 16
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 48*
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Hanover, N. H. Elementary—Perry or Walker 4 10-12 5 10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 50
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 1.     Elementary Polit. Econ.

2.     Advanced Polit. Econ.

3.     Finance

4.     History Econ. Thought

5.     Economic and Social Problems

6.     “Money,” etc.

5

—

—

—

—

—

 12

—

—

—

—

—

 5

5

3

3

3

2

 11

12

25

13

12

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60 337
Ohio State University.

Elementary

Advanced

Finance

Seminary (Indust. History)

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

 2

2

2

2

 38

26

12

38
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 228
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. 4 12 4 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 48
Penn. Military Academy, Chester, Penn. Elementary — — 5 13
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 65
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton, School of Finance and Economy, Philadelphia, Penn. 1.     Grad. Course in Finance

2.     Grad. Course in Theoretical Polit. Econ.

3.     Grad. Course in Statistics

4.     Elem. Course in Finance

5.     Elem. Course in Theoret. Polit. Econ.

6.     Elem. Course in Statistics

7.     Elem. Course in Practical Polit. Econ.

8.     Course in Money

9.     Course in Banking

10.   Advanced Course in Political Economy

11.   Economic History of Europe

12.   Grad. Course in Practical Polit. Econ.

13.   Econ. and Fin. History of U.S.

14.   Grad. Econ. History of the U.S.

15.   Grad. English Econ. History from 13th to 17th century

16.   Modern Econ. History.

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

—

 —

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 

—

—

 1

2

3

3

2

2

2

2

1

2

3

2

2

4

 

3

3

 30

30

30

30

30

15

15

15

30

30

30

30

30

30

 

30

30
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 1020
Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Elementary Course — — 3 19
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 57
Randolph Macon College, Ashland, Va. Elementary 2 32 2 32
[Total hours of instruction per year] 64 64
University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.

Elementary

Econ. Polit. History U.S.

5

—

 14

—

 5

1

 14

20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 90
Rutger’s College. Polit. Econ. (Elementary) 3 12 4 22
[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 88
Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

Elementary Course

Adv. Course in Theory

Seminarium

Practical Studies

3

—

—

—

 12

—

—

—

 3

3

2

2

 14

14

10

12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 128
South Carolina College, Columbia, S.C.

Polit. Econ. Senior Class

Applied Polit. Econ.

—

—

 —

—

 2

2

 40

20
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 120
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penn.

Polit. Econ. (Walker)

Finance

Protection and Free Trade

Money and Banking

History of Econ. Theories

—

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

—

 4

4

4

4

4

 20

10

10

10

10
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 240
Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

Elementary

Finance

Industrial Development since 1850

Seminary

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

 3

2

2

2

 14

10

12

38
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 162
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

Elementary

Advanced (Post-Graduate)

—

—

 —

—

 3

2

 20

Varies
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 100?
University of Texas, Austin, Texas. General — — 3 36
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 108
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

Elementary

Advanced

Finance

4

—

—

 13

—

—

 3

4

2

 17

17

17
[Total hours of instruction per year] 52 153
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Political Economy, Elementary

Political Economy, Advanced

3

—

 36

—

 3

3

 36

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 108 216
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.

Principles of Economics

Economic History

Railroads, Trusts, and Relation of State to Monopolies

Labor Problem and Socialism

Seminary

—

—

—

 

—

—

 —

—

—

 

—

—

 3

3

2

 

2

2

 18

18

18

 

18

18
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 216
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont.

Elementary

Advanced

—

—

 —

—

 3

2

 20

20
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 100
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Theory of Economics

Science of Society

3

—

 26

—

 3

2½

 16

16
[Total hours of instruction per year] 78 88
Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa. Political Economy 3 11 3 16
[Total hours of instruction per year] 33 48
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Elementary

Advanced

—

—

 —

—

 3

3

 14

26
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 120
Washington University, St. Louis. Prescribed Course 3 20 3 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60 60
Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

Industrial History

Economic Theory

Statistics (Seminary)

Socialism (Seminary)

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

 3

3

3

3

 18

18

18

18
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 216
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.

General Introductory (Sen.)

General Introductory (Jun.)

Economic Problems

 1½

—

—

 36

—

—

 2

3

2

 36

18

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 54 198
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Elementary Pol. Economy

Advanced Pol. Economy

—

—

 —

—

 2

2

 14

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 100
Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Political Economy 6 14 3 15
[Total hours of instruction per year] 84 45
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Econ. Seminary

Distribution of Wealth

History of Pol. Econ.

Money

Public Finance

Statistics

Recent Econ. Theories

Synoptical Lectures

Outlines of Economics

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 —

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

 2

5

5

5

3

3

3

1

4

 37

14½

12

10½

37

12

14½

15

37
[Total hours of instruction per year] — 612½
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Pol. Econ.**—Elem. (2)

Pol. Econ.—Adv. (3)

Economic History (2)

Finance, Public (2)

Finance, Corporate (2)

Mathematical Theory (1)

Seminary Instruction (2)

3

2

 

—

—

—

—

 36

36

36

—

—

—

—

 4

3

4

2

3

1

1

 36

36

36

36

36

36

36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 180 648

* [College of the City of New York] A few hours additional are given in the work of the Department of Philosophy; the whole number amounting to some 52 or 53.

** [Yale University] Figures in brackets represent numbers of courses under each head.

Source:  Appendix I to “The Study of Political Economy in the United States” by J. Laurence Laughlin, The Journal of Political Economy, vol. 1, no. 1 (December, 1892), pp. 143-151.

Image Source:  J. Laurence Laughlin drawn in the University of Chicago yearbook Cap and Gown (1907), p. 208.